dagblog - Comments for "Robert Fisk: Was he betrayed? Of course. Pakistan knew Bin Laden's hiding place all along"

Thanks for the link.I believe

Flavius — Fri, 06 May 2011 13:50:00 +0000

In reply to Robert Fisk: Was he betrayed? Of course. Pakistan knew Bin Laden's hiding place all along

Thanks for the link.

I believe Fisk is credible. I've read him for at least 20 years, disagree with some of his positions but think he's honest and is able to tap sources whose views - whatever I think of them - are worth knowing.

Well, I dunno if neat is the

artappraiser — Fri, 06 May 2011 08:10:23 +0000

In reply to Neat website AA, thanks.

Well, I dunno if neat is the word I would use. The professor is definitely a very angry, sarcastic and cynical far lefty, vehemently anti-Zionist with a nearly equal dislike of most Arab governments and of most U.S. foreign policy. But he's real good at it.

Actually, I find his nihilistic sarcasm quite useful in combination with his fluency in Arabic. From reading him, I learned that others like Juan Cole hedge what they say about what they read in Arabic media. Asa'd just blurts out what he actually thinks, no matter how nasty; read in combination with the others, it gives you a better idea of wassup. (Plus, amazingly, in the past, I've found he often ended up coincidentally confirming the picture MEMRI was trying to draw, some of those strange cases where far left and far right meet, where the spectrum makes a circle.)

I have no idea whether Fisk

Donal — Wed, 04 May 2011 22:35:01 +0000

In reply to Robert Fisk: Was he betrayed? Of course. Pakistan knew Bin Laden's hiding place all along

I have no idea whether Fisk is on point or not. But I do know that our government has lied before, and that gives conspiracy theorists that much more room to speculate.

Fisk's initial point was that

acanuck — Wed, 04 May 2011 22:27:08 +0000

In reply to I don't know what Fisk's

Fisk's initial point was that bin Laden had become an anachronism, an irrelevancy, a dead man walking. And I didn't see anything at all in his piece about singing Kumbaya.

Neat website AA, thanks.

Bruce Levine — Wed, 04 May 2011 22:07:37 +0000

In reply to http://angryarab.blogspot.com

Neat website AA, thanks.

I don't know what Fisk's

NCD — Wed, 04 May 2011 19:34:12 +0000

In reply to The idea Fisk starts off

I don't know what Fisk's 'initial point' was, if it was the Paki's turned Bin Laden in I would say what I said on Destor's blog in more detail, You have got to be kidding if you believe after 10 years in Afghanistan the US military and the Obama administration 'trust' either Afghans or Paki's with the lives and the mission of US special forces operating cross border. It's nuts. The US knows some Paki would immediately get the word to the target, who would scoot and avoid capture.

And if Fisk thinks the Arab revolts are going to bring some Washingtonian democracy where Muslims and Christians sing kumbaya, I believe he is too early in his predictions. There already have been conflicts between Coptics and radical Muslims in Egypt, which has a 10% Christian population. The Muslim protesters demonstrated last month, saying no Muslim should be ruled by a Christian, due to a Coptic being appointed administrator of a province in southern Egypt. Until one Arab country in the Middle East transforms their post-dictator state into a viable, equal justice, secular democracy the outcome in countries like Egypt is anything but clear, even to an expert like Fisk.

http://angryarab.blogspot.com

artappraiser — Wed, 04 May 2011 19:26:41 +0000

In reply to Robert Fisk: Was he betrayed? Of course. Pakistan knew Bin Laden's hiding place all along

http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2011/05/robert-fisk.html

The idea Fisk starts off

acanuck — Wed, 04 May 2011 18:57:26 +0000

In reply to Fisk is a master story teller

The idea Fisk starts off with, that the Arab Spring had already rendered bin Laden irrelevant, isn't unique to him. But I think it's profoundly true. And it's poetic justice that bin Laden lived to see much of his dream evaporate.

I think Fisk is right that Pakistan's ISI was harboring him, but I'm not quite as sure that he was betrayed. The number of people who knew bin Laden's precise location would have been kept as small as possible, because of the risk of betrayal for the reward. President Zardari certainly was out of the loop, but the top brass at ISI and the military sure have some 'splain' to do.

You're right about bin Laden having millions of Pakistani admirers, NCD, but as I argued in another In the News thread, they simply are NOT out in the street. I have seen reports of precisely TWO protests in Karachi, numbering a couple of hundred people each, a few dozen marchers in Quetta, and two dozen protesters in Gaza.

Nobody, it seems, is out on the street in Cairo, Amman, Damascus, Sanaa, Algiers, Riyahd, etc. Maybe that will change somewhat after Friday prayers. But for now, I'm struck by the lack of spontaneous popular demonstrations against the killing of bin Laden. I think it proves Fisk's initial point.

Fisk is a master story teller

NCD — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:39:00 +0000

In reply to Robert Fisk: Was he betrayed? Of course. Pakistan knew Bin Laden's hiding place all along

Fisk is a master story teller and often weaves in his usually irrelevant tale of his beating in Afghanistan which is getting a bit worn out.

He makes the obvious case that capturing Bin Laden alive would create problems, he doesn't mention the big problems, Pakistan would want him back, where to try him. torture him?, the Hague? What Bin Laden would say is one of the smaller problems, as he would not be holding press conferences.

Fisk's outlandish claim 'Betrayed? Of course he was. By the Pakistan military or the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence? Quite possibly both.' is poppycock.

Fisk apparently believes that the fractured unstable and weak terrorist supporting government in Pakistan is so formidable, and so smart and so good at keeping secrets, that they served him up for raiding sovereignty violating Americans to dispatch. All without Bin Laden being tipped off by rogue elements in the ISI or his supporters and admirers in Pakistan, who number in the millions and are out in the streets today in Pakistan.

No, Mr. Fisk, Pakistan did not serve up Bin Laden, they are neither that devious nor that wise to have done so. Which is why Bin Laden felt so safe within the borders of Pakistan. In Pakistan he was confident of his security. No one in Pakistan would ever turn him over to the Americans.

And no one in Pakistan ever did. Bin Laden's trust in the corrupt terror promoting government of Pakistani is why he was so totally unprepared when American SEALS burst through his door to do him in.